SOUTHERN ARKANSAS LADY MULERIDERS 1-9 (0-4 GAC)	NORTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA ST. LADY RANGERS 6-4 (2-2 GAC)	SOUTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA ST. LADY BULLDOGS 9-1 (4-0 GAC)
Thursday, January 4 | 5:30 p.m. Percefull Fieldhouse - Alva, Okla. LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO | LIVE AUDIO Saturday, January 6 | 1 p.m. Pioneer Cellular Event Center - Weatherford, Okla. LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO | LIVE AUDIO

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GAME NOTES (PDF)

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    After a convincing 98-30 victory over Crowley's Ridge College to close out 2017, the Southern Arkansas Lady Muleriders (1-9, 0-4 GAC) turn the calendar to 2018 which features 18 Great American Conference games beginning with a pair of league tilts this weekend in the Sooner State. SAU treks back across the Oklahoma state line for pivotal matchups with Northwestern Oklahoma State (6-4, 2-2 GAC) in Alva on Thursday evening and against the league's top ranked team in #17 Southwestern Oklahoma State (9-1, 4-0 GAC) on Saturday afternoon in Weatherford. The Lady Muleriders look to avenge a pair of losses to NWOSU last season, and look for their first win against SWOSU in Weatherford since joining the Great American Conference in 2011.

LADY MULERIDER NEWS AND NOTES  
Southern Arkansas concluded the 2017 portion of their schedule in dominant fashion as the Lady Muleriders picked up their first win of the season with a 98-30 win over Crowley's Ridge College. The 68-point advantage was the second-largest margin of victory in the Division II Era and largest since a 98-25 win against Arkansas Baptist in the 2004-05 season.

The win snapped a nine-game losing streak and ushers in the 2018 slate which includes 18 conference games. The Lady Muleriders (0-9, 0-4 GAC) are looking for their first league win and will have plenty of opportunities in the next two months to improve on their conference standing. 

SAU is averaging 64.0 points per game and allows 68.4 points defensively. The team's 73.8% clip from the free throw line is currently the fifth-highest mark in the league. Southern Arkansas shoots 38% from the field and averages 37.5 rebounds per game. The Lady Muleriders are also averaging the GAC's third-highest blocks per game average at 3.9, while also averaging 11.0 assists and 9.1 steals.
    
Three SAU players blanket the league's top 30 in scoring led by Kimberly Crown's 13.4 points per game (11th).  The sophomore from Greenland, Arkansas, is one of four players to be ranked in the top 12 in both scoring and rebounding as she averages 7.7 boards per game (6th). In nine games played, Crown has scored in double figures six times including five games with 15 or more points and a pair of games with 20 or more points. 
    
Sue Key follows Crown in scoring averaging 10.9 points per game and Olivia McWilliams adds 10.4 points per game. Williams owns the team's top shooting clip at 49.3% and Crown follows with a 46.8% success rate, while Key is shooting a team-best 80.0% from the charity stripe. All three shooting marks rank in the top 13 in the league.     
    
After swatting a career-high six shots in the win over Crowley's Ridge, Crown has 18 blocks this season averaging 2.0 per game which currently stands as the third-highest per game average in the GAC this season. Erin Brinkley adds 0.6 blocks per game. Anna Djedjemel leads the team with 19 assists at 1.9 per game and Ramiah Henry owns a team-best 16 steals at 1.6 per game. Djedjemel and Key both average over 29 minutes per game.
    
In addition, redshirt freshman guard Brette Wacha is coming off a career-high game against Crowley's Ridge where she registered a career-best 15 points and added five rebounds, three assists, and a steal. 

COACH    
The Lady Muleriders are coached by Julio Pacheco, who begins his third season at Southern Arkansas. Pacheco guided the Lady Muleriders to a NCAA DII program record 19 wins and their first postseason victory in nine years in his first year on the job and after a rebuilding year in 2016-17, Pacheco has the new look Lady Muleriders poised to return to the Great American Conference Tournament.




SCOUTING NORTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA STATE    
Northwestern Oklahoma enters the first weekend of the new year at 6-4 overall and 2-2 in league play. The Lady Rangers have won six of their past eight games after an 0-2 start and have picked up non-conference wins in their last two trips to the court. NWOSU picked up its first conference win in the GAC opener against Henderson State and went on to defeat Ouachita two days later. The two league losses for Northwestern Oklahoma came at the hands of Arkansas Tech and Harding. The Lady Rangers welcome Southern Arkansas into Percefull Fieldhouse where NWOSU has won their past five games dating back to last season.
    
Through ten games, the Lady Rangers are scoring at an average of 70.3 points per game, while allowing the second-most points per game defensively at 72.7. NWOSU currently shoots 38.3% from the floor and boasts the league's fourth-best rate from the free throw line at 74.5%. The Lady Rangers' 75 made three-point shots are the third-most in the league this season and their 7.7 per game average in fourth in the GAC. Northwestern Oklahoma averages 38.7 rebounds, 12.7 assists, 8.1 steals and 2.0 blocks per game all of which rank in the middle of the league's statistical categories. 
    
Northwestern Oklahoma employs a starting five that features three freshmen including the team's top scorer Kinsey Neiderer who is scoring at the league's 15th-highest per game clip with 12.3 points per game. Neiderer is currently averaging 2.5 makes from deep per game. Jade Jones follows with 11.0 points per game which also ranks in the top 30 in the GAC. 
    
The two additional freshmen that join Neiderer in the Lady Rangers' starting five are Bailey Brown and Selena McDonald and the duo ranks in the top 20 of the conference in rebounding. Brown ranks 14th with a team-leading 6.1 rebounds per game and McDonald follows with 5.6 rebounds per game; the 18th-highest mark in the league, and swats a team-leading 0.9 shots per game. Brown is also one of five players currently shooting 50% or better from the floor as she is averaging a 50.7% success rate.
    
Jones owns the second-best assist rate in the league averaging 5.1 per game and Jakeria Otey joins her in the top 15 of the category averaging 2.6 per contest while also owning a team-best average in steals with 1.9 per game. Jones' 1.4 assist-to-turnover ratio is the fourth-best mark in the GAC and her 32.8 minutes per game average ranks eighth. 

COACH    
Tasha Diesselhorst is in her second season as head coach of the Northwestern Oklahoma State women's basketball program. Diesselhorst and the Lady Rangers posted a 9-19 record overall in 2016-17 and finished with an 8-14 mark in league play; just narrowly missing out on the final spot in the GAC Tournament. Before coming to Alva, Diesselhorst enjoyed a successful career in the high school ranks at Oklahoma Class A Pond Creek-Hunter, where she collected a 187-63 record through nine seasons that included four state tournament appearances, a state runner-up finish in 2016, and the Class A state title in 2014.

THE SERIES    
Since Northwestern Oklahoma joined the Great American Conference in 2012, the series between the two programs stands at 5-5. The 2014-15 season stands as the only season in which one of the programs did not sweep the other. That year, the Lady Rangers won in Magnolia and Southern Arkansas grabbed a nine-point win in Alva. SAU recorded season sweeps of the Lady Rangers in 2013-14 and 2015-16, while NWOSU won both games of the season in 2012-13 and 2016-17.
    
LAST TIME OUT    
The Lady Rangers defeated Southern Arkansas 77-67 in Magnolia in the most recent meeting between the two programs on February 4, 2017. Northwestern Oklahoma claimed the lead six minutes into the first quarter and would not trail for the remainder of the contest as they picked up the season sweep of SAU after claiming a 71-64 victory in Alva earlier in the season.  
 

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SCOUTING SOUTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA STATE    
Southwestern Oklahoma State enters the first conference weekend of 2018 at 9-1 overall and 4-0 in Great American Conference play. The Lady Bulldogs sit at the top the conference standings and are ranked #17 in the nation in the latest WBCA NCAA DII Top 25 Coaches Poll. The lone SWOSU loss came on the road in Lubbock, Texas in a Top 25 matchup with #5 Lubbock Christian.
    
Inside the Pioneer Cellular Event Center, Southwestern Oklahoma has won 16 of their past 17 games at home including nine straight dating back to last season. Since the 2015-16 season, SWOSU owns a 28-6 record in Weatherford.
    
In ten games, Southwestern Oklahoma scores at the league's second-highest points per game rate at 83.1%. Defensively, the Lady Bulldogs allow the most points per game at 76.9, but own the conference's third-highest scoring margin at +6.2. SWOSU's 75.1% clip from the free throw line is the third-best mark in the GAC. From the floor, the Lady Bulldogs shoot 41.2% overall and 32.1% from beyond the arc which includes 75 made trifectas. SWOSU enters the second half of the season averaging 42.7 rebounds, 11.4 assists, 10.0 steals and 4.4 blocked shots per game and the team's +4.0 turnover margin is the second-best in the league. 
    
Highly responsible for the Lady Bulldogs' successes this season are three players ranked in the top seven of the GAC in scoring led by reigning league Player of the Year Hailey Tucker who owns the league's highest points per game mark of 21.2. Tyra Aska's 15.3 points per game is the fifth-highest in the league  and her 48.6% shooting clip ranks tenth. Hayden Priddy adds 14.3 points per game. 
    
Bethany Franks' 7.7 rebounds per game is the fifth-best average and Tucker's 6.9 rebounds per game ranks tenth. The trio of Aska, Priddy and Tucker own top 15 marks in several other categories including Aska's 2.7 assists (11th) and 2.9 steals (2nd) per game marks. Priddy's 3.8 assists per game ranks fourth and she owns the league's top free throw shooting clip at 91.3%. Tucker shoots 77.0% (15th) from the free throw line and adds 2.0 steals per game (7th). The trio averages the three of the top five minutes per game marks in the league.
    
Priddy shoots 38.5% from three-point range and averages 1.5 makes from deep per game. Tucker's 2.3 three-point makes per game rank eighth. Tucker swats 2.3 blocked shots per game which ranks second and Nicole Middleton adds 0.7 blocked shots per game. 

COACH    
Kelsi Musick is in her ninth season at the helm of the Southwestern Oklahoma State women's basketball program. Musick has tallied a 130-101 career record and is responsible for leading the Lady Bulldogs to a pair of NCAA Division II National Tournament appearances and four 20-win seasons, including a 20-10 record a year ago. A two-time Great American Conference Coach of the Year, Musick has totaled 90 GAC wins entering the weekend, averaging ten league victories a season.

LAST TIME OUT    
The two teams last played in February of 2017 with SWOSU capturing a 79-68 win in Magnolia. The Lady Bulldogs received 18 points each from both Hailey Tucker and Hayden Priddy and 17 points from Whitney Dunn. Southern Arkansas trailed by just five points at the intermission, but the SWOSU engineered an 18-9 third quarter run to cushion its lead in the final ten minutes of action. Earlier that season, the Lady Muleriders dropped a ten-point contest to Southwestern Oklahoma, 71-61, in Weatherford.    

THE SERIES    
SWOSU has dominated the series between the two programs since both schools became charter members of the Great American Conference in 2011. The Lady Bulldogs hold an 11-1 advantage in the series with the lone Southern Arkansas victory coming on February 14, 2015 in Magnolia as the Lady Muleriders claimed a five-point win in a low-scoring affair, 58-53.